Uber whistleblower Susan Fowler's next chapter: NYT editor
She'll cover technology's influence on culture in the opinion section.
Susan Fowler (now Susan Fowler Rigetti) has had a momentous, influential year and a half. Her blog post exposing sexual harassment culture at Uber not only prompted a change in corporate culture, but contributed to CEO Travis Kalanick's downfall and a broader investigation of harassment in tech. There's even a movie in the works. It's only fitting, then, that her next job will maintain that focus. The New York Times has hired Fowler Rigetti as its Op-Ed section's Technology Editor, where she'll commission and sometimes write pieces discussing the influence of technology on culture, politics and beyond. She'll stay in Northern California and will start work in September.
The hire could magnify the scrutiny of tech company culture, which is still struggling with gender and race discrimination issues. Uber itself is under federal investigation for gender discrimination complaints. And Fowler Rigetti is particularly well-suited to the task -- in addition to witnessing the darker side of tech culture first-hand, her education and work experience is split between tech and writing, including the "literary how-to" magazine Increment. She both knows the ins and outs of the tech world and has the creative chops to illustrate the industry's societal impact for a wider audience.
